The city collected $4.6 million in sales tax revenue in June, which is 43% more than the $3.2 million received in May and 14.9% more than this time last year, according to data.
This brings the city’s year-to-date collections to $29.1 million, a 9% increase year over year. Richardson fared well compared to neighboring cities. The city of Plano saw a .87% monthly increase, while the city of Dallas saw a decrease of 5%.
Sales tax revenue is critical to the city’s budget because it is the second largest revenue source in the general fund, Assistant City Manager Shanna Sims-Bradish said.
“Major crisis events, such as COVID-19, create instability in this revenue source, which is why it is watched closely to try to determine trends to allow for better future budgeting decisions,” she said in an email.
Despite the favorable outcome in monthly sales tax receipts, staff still projects collections to be down at the end of the year due to the pandemic. City Manager Dan Johnson said during an Aug. 10 budget briefing that he expects receipts to land at $36.4 million at the end of this fiscal year, which is an annual decrease of $1.7 million.